Candy coated tongue depressor



Oct. 28, 1958 L. s. CORNFIELD 2,857,908

CANDY COATED 1 0mm: DEPRESSOR Filed April 26, 1957 AZ 8 l8 l6 /6 1 M 3 W l/N/l/LLAl/r:

INVENTOR. L ESL /E s. COQNF/EL 0,

ATTO/QA/E Y5 U it Saws tent 2,857,908 CANDY COATED TONGUE DEPRESSOR Leslie S. Cornfield, Los Angeles, Calif. Application April 26, 1957, Serial No. 655,249 Claims. (Cl. 128-1 5) F, This invention relates to tongue depressor-s, and more particularly has reference to a tongue depressor which is coated with a candied confection or the equivalent, for the purpose of making the use of the tongue depressor on children easier, while affording the child a greater pleasure than is normally true when a conventional tongue depressor is used.

A physician often is required to use a tongue depressor, in examining the throat or oral cavity, and it is a common occurrence for the physician to encounter considerable difliculty, when using the tongue depressor on a child. This is true, to a great extent, because of the fact that the ordinary wooden tongue depressor is unpleasant to the taste, by reason of its being formed entirely from a raw wood material.

In view of the above, it is proposed to provide a confection-coated tongue depressor, which will make the tongue depressor sweet to the taste, thereby increasing the attractiveness of the tongue depressor to the child. In this way, it is proposed to not only make the physicians task easier, but at the same time render the childs visit to the physician more enjoyable than is ordinarily the case. The tongue depressor, in fact, after its normal single use, can be given to the child to be enjoyed as a lollipop.

Heretofore, it has been proposed to provide, broadly, a tongue depressor having a confection in the end that is inserted in the mouth. However, certain disadvantages have been noted with the device .as found in the prior art, as for example, the confection may quite conceivably fall out, and constitute a hazard in the throat.

One important object of the present invention is to provide a confection-type coating for the tongue depressor which will at all times adhere strongly to the material of the depressor, even up to the time it has been fully consumed, so that there will be no danger of the confection dropping off and sticking in the throat of the child or infant.

Another object is, to provide, in a coated depressor of the character described, a construction such that the depressor and the coating thereof can be manufactured at a very low cost, this being important in view of the normal,

single use of a conventional wooden depressor.

Another object is to provide a coated depressor that Will be so designed that the confection will not interfere in any way with the normal use of the depressor 'in the examination of the mouth or throat.

Yet another object is to include in the depressor novel interlocking means between the wooden body and the confection, designed to insure to the maximum the adherence of the confection to the surface of the depressor, and designed, further, to permit the confection to be applied to the depressor merely by dipping of the depressor in the confection or candy while the candy is in a liquid state. This, of course, is of great importance in view of the fact that a device of this type must be capable of manufacture at a very low cost, by mass production methods.

2,857,908 Patented Oct. 28, 1958 Other objects will appear from the following descrip- Figure 2 is an enlarged longitudinal section on line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of a modified form; and

Figure 4 is a transverse section on a slightly enlarged scale, substantially on line 4-4 of Figure 3.

Referring to the drawings in detail, a fiat, elongated, straight body 10 having the usual rounded ends, is provided, for approximately half its length, with a coating 12 of a suitable candy or confection. The coating 12 increases the thickness of the depressor only to a comparatively small extent (Figure 2), so that the depressor can still be used with full efficiency in the examination of the mouth or throat.

The coating 12 is rounded ofi as at 14, correspondingly to the adjacent, rounded end of the body 10, and projects beyond the opposite side edges of and beyond one end of the body to a slight extent as clearly shown in Figure 1, terminating as at 16 approximately at the midlength point of the body.

The coating is effectively secured in place by the provision of openings 18. In the form of Figure 1, the openings 18 are spaced longitudinally of the body 10, being extended completely therethrough (Figure 2) and are staggered in a direction transversely of the body, that is, the several openings are not aligned longitudinally of the body.

The openings are of substantial diameter, and the confection extends completely therethrough, providing a highly efiective interlock between the opposite faces of the coating.

This is of great importance, in view of the fact that the confection is securely locked with the body 10, and will at all times be prevented from dropping out of the body, in pieces of any size that could cause damage. In other words, in licking the coating, the child would lick the 0pposite faces of the coating until it has been completely removed, leaving only the portions of the coating that fill the openings 18. Some of these portions could come out while the opposite faces of the coating are being licked. If they do not, however, they are merely small discs, which might not be more than one-quarter inch in diameter and which would be no greater in thickness than the thickness of the body 10, being already made soft by insertion in the mouth, so that they cannot in any circumstances constitute a safety hazard.

In the modified construction shown in Figure 3, the body 22 of the depressor is formed, for approximately half its length, with a reduced width extension 23, said extension being formed with longitudinally spaced openings 24 which in this instance, but not necessarily, are aligned longitudinally and centrally of the depressor body. The confection 26 has its sides flush with the side edges of the wider or handle portion of body 22 in this form, and terminates as at 28 at the location of the shoulders 30 defined at the base of the reduced extension 23. Openings 24 are filled with a confection in the same manner as they are filled at 20 in the first form of the invention. Again, there is a firm anchoring of the confection, and in this form, when the confection has been applied the depressor is constant in width from end to end thereof, since the confection makes up for the reduction in the width of the extension 23.

It is believed clear that the invention is not necessarily confined to the specific use or uses thereof described above, since it may be utilized for any purpose to which it may be suited. Nor is the invention to be necessarily limited to the specific construction illustrated and described, since such construction is only intended to be illustrative of the principles of operation and the means presently devised to carry out said principles, it being considered that th"'invention heifdsaiijyj min' 'rlclia ec'o'ns trnc tio ri that m permitted vv'i'thin the scopeof tie 'JH"=I'T= 13 4n What is is:

1. tongue epressor comprising an eilongated, flat body having a plurality of openings spaced"apart thereirii faces'thereofand extending h v theco'a'ting'to'the body, sa' onfect on coating pro cti'njg outwardlyfrorn the opposite'facesof the body to inall degree, to slightly thicken the body at the locatio ofthc confection mana es I hing's*beingspace d Qllgitbldl- .nally of the body.

A tongue depressor comprising an elongated, flat body having a plurality of openingsspijdapart therein; and 'aconfection coating applied to the body opposite faces thereof and extending through said openingst'o lock the coating 'tdthe body, said confection coatin'g project- 30 i l u w i y' c n he b i a g Qf th b .a small degree, tci' slightly thicken the body at 'the loot; f thef' nfe rfipp'c a ng; sa d, q i i z being ,S'PV cs 4 l longitudinally of the body, the openings being staggered in a direction transversely of the body.

4. A tongue depressor comprising an elongated, fiat body having a plurality of openings spaced apart therein; and a confection coating applied to the body on opposite faces thereof and extending through said openings to lock the coating to the body, said confection coating projecting outwardly from the opposite faces of the body to a small degree, to slightly thicken the body at the location of theco'nfection coating, sai'd op'eniii'gsbin'gspaced longitudinally of the body, saidcoating'" extending approximately half the length of the body.

5. A tongue depressor'comprising an elongated, flat body having a plurality of openings spaced apart therein; 1 and a confection coating applied to the body on opposite faces thereof and extending through said openings to lock the coating to the body, said confection coating projecting outwardly from the opposite faces of the body to a small degree, to slightly 'thickerf' tlie body" at 'the h i location 'of the confection coatin gi' saidopiiings spaced'longitudinally of the body, "said coatingexten mg approximately half the length of the Y body, the portion of the'body'to which the coating i 's app lied being Of IIQ duced vvidth, said coating filling out the r educed i th portion of the body to increase the same tag-mam ap proxim'ating'thatof the remaining portion of 

